Dive Brief:

• Nearly half of employers (46%) in a global Randstad Workmonitor survey use real-time feedback to assess their workforce's performance, and 72% of workers said they feel at ease giving their managers feedback. The survey of 34 nations showed that while employees can share feedback in multiple ways, 19% said they're never asked for their feedback. The various ways employees said they shared performance feedback included face-to-face (55%), online surveys (14%), in writing on paper (11%) and in other ways (1%).
• Survey respondents said they saw giving and getting feedback as positive because it helped them understand their goals and how to achieve them (46%); learn about and develop themselves (37%); and increase their motivation (35%). Respondents said they saw giving and getting feedback as negative because it can be hard not to take negative feedback personally or know how to react to it (26%); makes them feel uncomfortable (20%); and makes them feel vulnerable (19%).
• Globally, 45% of employers offer training on how to give and receive feedback, according to the survey, with most training provided in India (78%) and the least in Greece (27%).

Dive Insight:

Real-time feedback on performance is gaining favor among employers and workers. Most employees (61%) in a Reflektive study consider the traditional performance review outdated, describing it as too generic, too infrequent and often incomplete. According to data from a PwC study compiled by LinkedIn, 60% of employees wanted daily or weekly feedback, and among workers under age 30, the percentage rises to 72%.

The traditional once-a-year review hasn't disappeared completely from the workplace, however. And although the Randstad study pointed out drawbacks with real-time feedback, the annual performance appraisal might have greater disadvantages: a once-a-year review often requires managers to rely on their memory to recall how employees performed their jobs during the past 12 months, spotlights negative performance at the expense of any improvements an employee might have made and focuses too much on past behavior rather than on future expectations.

Since one size never fits all, HR leaders will need to decide which type of performance review best suits their organization or if a combination of the two is necessary.